Campaign pushed to get Clinton’s private emails

Campaign pushed to get Clinton’s private emails

President Donald Trump pushed for obtaining rival Hillary Clinton’s private emails and his campaign was in touch with allies who were pursuing them, according to the special counsel’s report.

On July 27, 2016, Mr Trump famously said at a campaign rally, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” referring to emails that Ms Clinton said she had deleted from her private server. She had used a private account during her tenure as secretary of state.

Mr Trump also “made this request repeatedly” during the campaign, former national security adviser Michael Flynn told Mueller’s investigation.

Flynn “contacted multiple people in an effort to obtain the emails,” including Peter Smith, a Republican operative, and Barbara Ledeen, a Republican staffer.

Months earlier, Ledeen had written to Smith that Clinton’s server had likely been breached long ago, and that “the Chinese, Russian, and Iranian intelligence services could ‘reassemble the server’s email content’.”

Smith “created a company, raised tens of thousands of dollars, and recruited security experts and business associates,” the investigation found. Smith also claimed that “he was in contact with hackers ‘with ties and affiliations to Russia’ who had access to the emails, and that his efforts were co-ordinated with the Trump campaign,” but Mr Mueller couldn’t establish if that was true.